Virgin of the Annunciation

Apart from the loss of the top layer of paint on the robe, which would formerly have muted the current strongly glowing red lead colour, this statue of the Virgin, worked to be viewed from any side, is in a very good state of preservation. What became of the angel that would originally have been part of the group is not known.

The sculpture dates from the master’s middle period, when his statues were particularly notable for their sturdy composition and the high degree of ideal beauty and grace in the movement of the figures and the draping of the robes. In dispensing with the cloak that had hitherto been customary in figures of Mary, the artist was able to render the body more clearly apparent under the long, high-waisted robe. In spite of the dawning Early Renaissance, Francesco di Valdambrino remained an artist of the Late Gothic.